Phonetic reading vs. shape recognition

[Vort]

Years ago, I read that mature readers did not use phonetics, but read words by shape. After adjusting to this idea, I quickly became convinced it was true. There is no way we could read as fast as we do if we had to constantly sound out everything. We're reading by shape. It also occurred to me that those who advocate the "look-say" reading method were trying to capitalize on this fact. I realized that they were short-circuiting the process, and in doing so skipping the vital step of phonetic reading, without which the shape-memory thing will not work well, if at all. A reader has to have phonetics to fall back on for unfamiliar words, misspellings, or when their brain simply refuses to recognize a word and they have to figure it out by sound—something that I'm sure happens to us all, certainly to me.

As an interesting (to me) adjunct to this, I have found that when I read normally, I mostly do shape recognition. But when I remember strings of letters, then of course I rarely use the idea of shape memory, but simply memorize the string of letters. For instance, in doing one of @zil's puzzles, I checked my answer by referring to the answer key, for which I had to enter the puzzle number: G903ZZ. But I typed in G903CC. At first, I wondered if I just hit the wrong letter typo-style, but I immediately realized that, no, I had typed exactly what I meant to type. I then wondered if I had misread the number, but no, I remembered having recognized the double z, as in "ZZ Top". But in the second it took to glance between the puzzle and the computer, my brain had transformed the "zee zee" to "see see". If I were a Brit, I would never have made that mistake. How funny.

I've noticed the same general phenomenon on typos. Occasionally my typos are simply accidental wrong letters, fat-fingering, or (often) transpositions because my fingers don't type in the same order my brain tells them to. But many of my typos are actually homophones of what I meant to type. I know what I want to type, but my brain too often grabs the first homophone, and I type "to" for "too" (or sometimes even for "two"). I don't generally screw up its and it's, but I am often appalled (and entertained) at the wrong things I type. Occasionally it's pretty embarrassing, especially in a professional setting.

Anyone else enjoy such follies, or is it just me?

[zil]

3 minutes ago, Vort said:

Anyone else enjoy such follies, or is it just me?

Sí, sí.

[anatess2]

I think it was @Carborendum that had a thread about speed reading where we discussed some of this.  I did a quick search and I can't find the thread.

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Vort said:

As an interesting (to me) adjunct to this, I have found that when I read normally, I mostly do shape recognition. But when I remember strings of letters, then of course I rarely use the idea of shape memory, but simply memorize the string of letters. For instance, in doing one of @zil's puzzles, I checked my answer by referring to the answer key, for which I had to enter the puzzle number: G903ZZ. But I typed in G903CC. At first, I wondered if I just hit the wrong letter typo-style, but I immediately realized that, no, I had typed exactly what I meant to type. I then wondered if I had misread the number, but no, I remembered having recognized the double z, as in "ZZ Top". But in the second it took to glance between the puzzle and the computer, my brain had transformed the "zee zee" to "see see". If I were a Brit, I would never have made that mistake. How funny.

I do that ALL the time.  I mix and match C's with S's and C's with K's.  I even mix and match Z with X.  I can't tell you how many times I've typed "Arixona."  I know.  That makes no sense.  But I do it all the time.

When I see a misprint in a book, I stop on that word because I simply CANNOT glide past it.  I have to stop and re-read it to determine what the word was supposed to be.  It is a slow process for me (compared to others).  It may take a 1/2 second or less for others.  It takes me about 2 or 3 seconds for every misprint.  And this also goes for REALLY bad grammar or punctuation.

[anatess2]

My eldest son and I can read this paragraph without missing a beat.  My husband and my youngest son cannot.

"It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/why-your-brain-can-read-jumbled-letters

[Traveler]

On 12/27/2018 at 9:25 AM, Vort said:

Years ago, I read that mature readers did not use phonetics, but read words by shape. After adjusting to this idea, I quickly became convinced it was true. There is no way we could read as fast as we do if we had to constantly sound out everything. We're reading by shape. It also occurred to me that those who advocate the "look-say" reading method were trying to capitalize on this fact. I realized that they were short-circuiting the process, and in doing so skipping the vital step of phonetic reading, without which the shape-memory thing will not work well, if at all. A reader has to have phonetics to fall back on for unfamiliar words, misspellings, or when their brain simply refuses to recognize a word and they have to figure it out by sound—something that I'm sure happens to us all, certainly to me.

As an interesting (to me) adjunct to this, I have found that when I read normally, I mostly do shape recognition. But when I remember strings of letters, then of course I rarely use the idea of shape memory, but simply memorize the string of letters. For instance, in doing one of @zil's puzzles, I checked my answer by referring to the answer key, for which I had to enter the puzzle number: G903ZZ. But I typed in G903CC. At first, I wondered if I just hit the wrong letter typo-style, but I immediately realized that, no, I had typed exactly what I meant to type. I then wondered if I had misread the number, but no, I remembered having recognized the double z, as in "ZZ Top". But in the second it took to glance between the puzzle and the computer, my brain had transformed the "zee zee" to "see see". If I were a Brit, I would never have made that mistake. How funny.

I've noticed the same general phenomenon on typos. Occasionally my typos are simply accidental wrong letters, fat-fingering, or (often) transpositions because my fingers don't type in the same order my brain tells them to. But many of my typos are actually homophones of what I meant to type. I know what I want to type, but my brain too often grabs the first homophone, and I type "to" for "too" (or sometimes even for "two"). I don't generally screw up its and it's, but I am often appalled (and entertained) at the wrong things I type. Occasionally it's pretty embarrassing, especially in a professional setting.

Anyone else enjoy such follies, or is it just me?

When reading I seldom see individual letters - often I do not read words but rather by sentences (groups of individual words).  This is because I am dyslectic and I have never been able to understand when trying to read word by word.  When reading aloud I will get some words wrong or leave them out (because I am not seeing them).  If I am reading an important article or technical manual - I will read it backwards because it makes more sense that way.  If I am reading an novel I will often skip what I see as worthless parts of the story which means sometimes I go back a few pages to figure things out to stay with and fill in the story.  When reading scriptures I often see verses as the same as other verses but with different individual words - I believe this gives me an advantage in reading scripture and understanding what was meant.

When writing I tend to type in the first letter of the next word as the last letter of the previous word - so when I write (including for the forum) I must read everything backwards to seem my mistakes.  Whenever I give a lesson at church and write on the white board - there is a lot of misspelling.  There is always someone that wants to correct my spelling - but I respond with, "If you only know one way to spell a word - you are uneducated."  I figure that as long as someone understand what I am communicating - my spelling is not that important.

I have no explanation why I mix up letters spelling but tend to remember numbers without problems.

 

The Traveler

Edited December 29, 2018 by Traveler

[mikbone]

I have no phoenetic skills, just read the words.  Works swell for me and all the cultures that use logograms instead of alphabets.  My wife, J.D. with English undergrad, makes fun of me.  

I read anatess2’s paragraph without any difficulty.

Check out this website.

https://www.spritz.com/

It allows you to read REALLY fast by only displaying one word at a time.  Hit the play button and mess with the speed.

I bet the adamic language is logographic.